Volunteers return to help in ground-breaking cancer detection trial

HUNDREDS of volunteers from Warrington are returning to help the NHS study a ground-breaking cancer detection test.
The participants will have blood samples taken at a mobile clinic in Warrington over the coming weeks in their second appointment for the NHS-Galleri trial.
Participants will be helping to investigate whether the multi-cancer blood screening test can help to detect cancer early, before symptoms appear.
Since the NHS-Galleri was launched nationally in Cheshire and Merseyside during September last year it has successfully enrolled more than 140,000 volunteers from across England.
Dr Chris Warburton (pictured below), Medical Director at Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance said: “We are delighted to be welcoming back volunteers from Warrington for their vital second appointment as part of the trial.
“We know from feedback that volunteers found the process of enrolling very straightforward. We want to thank them for returning for both their second and third appointments, which will be even shorter. It’s such a simple thing to do but could make a big difference.”
Those taking part were aged 50 to 77 years old at the point of enrolling on to the trial and had not been diagnosed or treated for cancer in the last three years.
Over the next nine months, the study will also return to Runcorn, St Helens, Widnes, Liverpool, Southport, Chester, Wirral, Crewe, Kirkby and Macclesfield, with volunteers contacted directly to attend their second screening.
The trial continues to put the NHS at the forefront of cutting-edge research and technology.
The Galleri blood test, if successful, could play a major part in achieving the NHS Long Term Plan ambition to catch three-quarters of cancers at an early stage, when they are generallyeasier to treat.
Professor Charles Swanton, Co-Chief Investigator for the NHS-Galleri trial said: “These next trial appointments are really vital for helping researchers understand whether the test could be used in the future as part of the NHS cancer screening programme.
“Whilst the first year of the trial may pick up cancers that have existed for some time, the second and third years provide the best opportunity to explore the expected benefits of picking up new cancers at an early stage when treatment is generally more successful.”
If successful, the NHS in England plans to roll out the test to a further one million people across 2024 and 2025. In its first year, the trial has referred a small proportion of trial participants for urgent NHS cancer investigations, following detection of a positive Galleri cancer signal.
Research has shown that the Galleri test could help to detect cancers that are typically difficult to identify early – such as head and neck, bowel, lung, pancreatic and throat cancers.
Professor Charles Swanton, co-chief Investigator for the NHS-Galleri trial said: “These next trial appointments are really vital for helping researchers understand whether the test could be used in the future as part of the NHS cancer screening programme.
“Whilst the first year of the trial may pick up cancers that have existed for some time, the second and third years provide the best opportunity to explore the expected benefits of picking up new cancers at an early stage when treatment is generally more successful.”
If successful, the NHS in England plans to roll out the test to a further one million people across 2024 and 2025. In its first year, the trial has referred a small proportion of trial participants for urgent NHS cancer investigations, following detection of a positive Galleri cancer signal.
Research has shown that the Galleri test could help to detect cancers that are typically difficult to identify early – such as head and neck, bowel, lung, pancreatic, and throat cancers.
The test works by finding chemical changes in fragments of DNA that leak from tumours into the bloodstream.
The NHS-Galleri trial is being run by The Cancer Research UK and King’s College London Cancer Prevention Trials Unit in partnership with the NHS and healthcare company, GRAIL, which has developed the Galleri test.
After the round of second appointments, local volunteers will be asked to come back a third time in around one year from now.